USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > Centennial history of Somerset County [New Jersey] > Part 5
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After noticing a few of the men connected with the His- tory of Somerset in very early days, we now turn to those who are more properly Somerset men.
It would be a pleasant task to mention the name of eve- ry one who has adorned the Annals of Somerset County, by the elevation of their character, their efficiency, their in- telligence, their moral culture and their Christian consist- ency ; but we have neither the knowledge nor the space for such an extensive review of the past. We only men- tion a few, There was an emigration directly from Scot- land, at different times, to which we owe the names of Kirk- patrick, McEowen, McDowell, Logan, Mckinstry, Boylan! Then there came from Canada, Captain Creighto Mc Crea, Colonel James Henry, Dr. John Henry, Major McDonald, and others. McCrea, Dr. Henry and McDonald, it is un- derstood, had been connected with the British Army .- From Long Island came the ancestors of Jacobus Van Derveer, who, at his death, was said to be the richest man in Somerset County, and Elias Van Derveer-both of Bed- minster-and the latter the father of the late Dr. Henry Van Derveer of, Pluckamin ; and of Dr. Lawrence Van Derveer, of Roycefield, an eminent physician, philanthro- phist and christian. Cornelius Van Derveer of North
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Branch, Ferdinand and Colonel Henry Van Derveer, the Vanarsdalens, the Schencks, Van Stays, Van Camps, Ten Eycks, La Tourettes, Bogarts, Van Middleworths, De Groots, Brokaws and others were from the same place ; Robert Bohmer, of German extraction, often an elder in the church, Enos Kelly, an assemblyman, Robert Blair, John Simonson, Guysbert Sutphen, Christopher Hoagland, the Lanes and Fields, and many others, honorable in their day, useful in church and in State, and worthy of commemora- tion, had we space to give it.
From such general memoranda we now turn to copy two or three obituaries as interesting relics of a former age ; from Jersey State Gazette, Sept. 1. 1779. "Died on the 15th ultimo, Hon. Abraham Van Neste, Member or Coun- cil for the County of Somerset." In an advertisement, Oct. 27, 1781, he is said to have been "of Millstone." Jan. 17, 1781, from the same source-"On Sunday, 7th inst., departed this life, in an advanced age, Jacob Ber- gen, first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Somerset. He was for many years a magistrate under the former government ; was continued under the present ; universally respected as an early, a consistent and decided patriot. The country has lost in him a faithful, active magistrate, and the State a useful, respectable citi- zen," Judge Bergen lived in Princeton, and one of his ap- pointments was given him in "Joint Meeting," held in the College Buildings, Sept. 13, 1776. Peter Schenck, Abra- ham Van Neste, James Linn and Enos Kelly were appoint- ed to the same position at the same time. On November 26th, 1777, the Legislature of New Jersey met at his house, and in the season of 1779 Abraham Van Neste, mentioned above, was a member of the Assembly from Som- erset.
Another dated Trenton, December 6th, 1781, "on Thurs lay, 29th ult,, died at his seat on the Raritan, Der- rick Van Vegten, in the 84th year of his age. This gen- tleman possessed the virtues of patriotism and hospitality in a very eminent degree. Warmly attached to the cause of his country, he took peculiar pleasure in rendering it any service in his power ; and when his property was very
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essentially injured by the winter quarters of a division of our army being fixed on his possessions, like a good citizen he submitted without repining to suffer as an individual, to promote the public good. His benevolence and hospi- tality were not confined to the circle of his friends and ac- quaintances. His doors were ever open to the friendless stranger-his house afforded a resting place and a cheerful welcome to the weary traveller. The blessings of the poor and needy, the widow and the orphan, daily ascended to heaven in his behalf. Providence blessed him with a good constitution. and he met the gradual approaches of death with that composure and resignation which proceeds from the consciousness of a religious life, and a well grounded hope of the divine acceptance, The general sorrow of the numerous assembly which attended the funeral on the Sunday following, testified their sense of his merit and their loss."
Mr. Van Veghten resided on the banks of the Raritan near what is now called the old bridge, The American army was quartered on Mr. Van Veghten's land, in the winter of 1778 and 1779. Washington's general orders to the troops were published in the New Jersey Gazette, Feb- ruary 17, 1779, but were really given at an early date. The location of the encampment has already been indica- ted. It was a valuable piece of timber land, which was al- most entirely destroyed as fuel and logs for the soldiers huts ; and there is no evidence that any compensation was ever made. During the same winter Gen. Washington and Mrs. Washington lived in the parlor of Caleb Miller's house, then just newly finished to receive them. Here Washington planned and arraigned all the details of Gen- eral Sullivan's expedition against the Indian's in western New York. With the reverance due to such a circum- stance, that parlor has not been changed in the least since the Father of his country lived and slept in it, and it ought to remain as it is, until time effects its demolition. Our veneration for the past is too short either for our own credit or the benefit of future times.
Hendrick Fisher was born the year 1697, in the Pala- tinate, and emigrated to this country as a young man. He
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was received into the church in 1721 and soon appointed a Deacon, then an Elder, and continued an ardent friend of F. J. Frelinghuysen until his death, A mechanic by trade, he was yet a man of more than ordinary intelligence and capacity for business. He was almost constant in his attendance with him in the Ecclesiastical conventions, The first Convention of the Churches of the Coetas or liberal party in the Outch Church which met in New York in 1738, recognized him as the Elder from Raritan, On the adoption of the plan of union in 1771 he was again present, and his name appears on more than one of the important committees. He exerted an important influence in bring- ing about union in the church. He was one of Mr. Freling- huysen's Helpers and acted as a Catcchist and Lay Preach- er. Some of his sermons were published, and are said to have been rich in doctrine and in their illustration of spir- itual christianity.
In civil life he was one of the most influential men of his day. When the Revolution opened he was a member of the Assembly of New Jersey from Somerset County, and stood up firmly on the patriot side. He represented the County often afterwards, and never flinched from active du- ty whenever or in whatever form he encountered it. In the Provincial Congress of New Jersey which assembled at Tren- ton 1775, he was elected President His opening address is said to have been most forcible in setting forth the griev- ances of the Colonies, He was chairman of the Committee of Safety which had really wide extended executive powers when Congress was not in session, He served also in other affairs of delicacy and trust.
His firm and decided course made him many enemies among the opponents of the war, and for fear of them he generally went armed, especially on his various journeys. His courage no one doubted any more than they did his moral integrity or the decided character of his Christianity.
He resided below Bound Brook on the south side of the river, and the homestead is now owned by Abraham I. Brokaw. In process of time it was bought by Captain McCrea who devised it to his niece Maria, the wife of Wm. Van Duyn. He represented the county of Somerset in the
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Assembly at Perth Amboy in 1772, and also in 1775 in company with John Royce. This Assembly took part in the opening scenes of the Revolution, the end of which he was not permitted to see-since he died four years after- wards. His remains rest in a family graveyard on his farm. In a dense thicket overgrown with thorns and small trees, stands a plain brown upright slab, bearing the fol- lowing inscription : "In memory of Hendrick Fisher who departed this life August 16th, 1779 in the 82nd year of his age."
Col. John Mehelm came from Neshamany Fenns, and at first engaged in Merchantile and Milling business at New Bromley (Stillwell's Mills) near White House. He was appointed Surrogate of Hunterdon and Somerset and resi- ded in Pluckamin-was a member of the first Provincial Congress. and of the Council of Safety-was present when Gov. Franklin was arrested and superceded, and one of the commissioners appointed to sell the estate of Lord Sterling. Win. McEowen married his daughter, and was during the war, Musician and Quartermaster. He repre- sented Somerset County several terms as Member of As- sembly. Col. Mehelm was in his day a man of character and influence, and has left a memory which is an honor to his posterity.
We must not fail to mention among those who have been prominent in publie life the name of John Harden- burgh. He was the son of the Rev. Dr. Hardenburgh, pastor of the church of Raritan, and Jeffvrow Harden- burgh, a woman of eminent piety. He is commonly spo- ken of by the aged, who still remember him, as Sheriff Hardenburgh, but his holding that office was a great misfor- tune to himself, and to the friends who became his sureties. He was a gentleman of popular address and manners, and lived a free and generous life, not regarding always the ex- penses in which indulgence involved him. He married Ann Wallace, from Philadelphia, and lived in the old house which was removed to make room for the present mansion ot Dumont Frelinghuysen, Esq. He died in 1738, and his remains were deposited by the side of his wife on the banks of the meadows east of the old Parsonage in which his fath-
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er had resided. His wife died before him. We give their epitaphs : "In memory of Ann, wife of John Harden- burgh, who departed this life November 26th, 1793, aged 35 years and 6 months " "In memory of John Harden- burgh, Esq., who departed this life July 23, 1798, aged 39 years, 3 months and 12 days."
In the house now occupied by John Herbert, at the Mills, near Middlebrook, resided during the Revolution, a merchant from New York by the name of Philip Van Horn ; and from him it was known as "Phil's Hill." His house was resorted to by the officers of the American army, and his daughters, one or more, married them. Col Sim- co called at the house on his way to Van Veghten's bridge and Millstone, when the church of Raritan was burnt, ex- pecting to find Col. Moyland there who was we believe, a son-in law. The Duke DeChastellaux, Major-General of the French army under Rochambeau, on his way from Mor- ristown to Trenton, dined with Mr. Van Horn, and gives an amusing account of one daughter, an officer's wife, and another the younger, who was flirting with a Lieutenant during the dinner. We have no knowledge of what be- came of the family, except that the property was sold after the war, and they must have died or moved away.
William Mercer lived above Millstone and was a man of high character. He owned a mill and a store, and accu- mulated wealth. His descendants reside at the present time in Newark and its vicinity. Theodore Frelinghuysen married his daughter Charlotte, and Dr. Stryker, of Somer- ville, another. Dr. Stryker, besides serving in the legisla- tive council. was a physician of eminence and large prac- tice ; an earnest christian, living to the age of nearly nine- ty years, and going down to his rest full of honor and in perfect peace.
At Weston lived J. M. Bayard, owner of the mills, a citizen of influence in his day ; a christian man and an ex- ample of every good word and work. He assisted at the first meeting called to form the Somerset County Bible So- ciety, and was active wherever the good order of society was concerned.
Rev. Balthazar Bayard, before the revocation of the edict
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of Nantes, was driven from France by the policy of Cardi- nal Richliew, and emigrated to Holland the only place where he could enjoy liberty of conscience. There his only daughter, Judith, married Petrus Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch Governors of New Amersterdam. She prevailed with the Governor to persuade her three brothers to ac- company them to this country. On their arrival in 1647, James the youngest of the three purchased a manor in Cecil County, Maryland Prior to leaving Holland, he had married Blandinia Conde. They had four children. The youngest son named James inherited the manor on the death of his parents. He married Miss Ashton. Two sons were born to them, John and James Ashton-John being the oldest in age by thirty minutes.
John Bayard was born August 11th 1738, in the Mary- land Manor House. His father dying intestate he became entitled by law to the whole inheritance, but on reaching manhood, he conveyed to his brother one half the real es- tate. In early life he became a communicant of the Pres- byterian Church in Philadelphia, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Gilbert Tennent. At the commencement of the Revolutionary war he took an active part in the Patriot cause, At the head of the 2d Batallion of the Philadel- phia troops he marched to the assistance of Washington and was present at the Battle of Trenton. He was a mem- ber of the Council of Safety. and for many years Speaker of the House of Representatives, In 1785 he was elected to Congress. Three years subsequently, he removed to New Brunswick, where he was Mayor of the City, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and an Elder of the Presby- terian Church. He died there January, 1806.
We have said that Peter Dumont was living on the Rar- itan in the beginning of 1699. He was a large landholder on the south side of the raritan, and the ancestors of those who have since borne that honorable name. He was born April 18th, 1679, and was the son of Walran Dumont and Gertie, his wife. He married first Fametie Van Middles- worth, who died December 25th, 1706 ; second, Catelyntie Rappleyea, who died January 30th, 1709 ; and thirdly Janetie Veghte. Her son John, born April 13th, 1719.
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was the father of Peter B. Dumont, of our times. The Dumont family are of French extraction. Isaac Dumont, of Bostanquet, held a Fief by Knights service in the beau- tiful Pays de Caux, in Normandy. A branch emigrated to Holland in the days of persecution. They were early of protestant principles ; and Isaac Dumont served in the army of William when he came to England as others of the name had done before him in armies of the Prince of Orange.
Among the Raritan families the Veghte's have long been influential and respectable. The common ancestors were two brothers, Hendrick and Class Arense Veghte, who came to New Netherlands in 1660, and went to reside on Long Island, at Gowanus. Hendrick, a son of one of the emigrants, built a house of bricks imported from Holland, with a tile roof, which bears the date 1639. He had two sons, Rynier and Hendrick. Rynier settled on the north side of the Raritan river, on the farm owned afterwards and occupied by John A. Staats. This Rynier left one son named Henry, who married the daughter of John Van Middlesworth, who lived opposite on the south side of the river. Henry sold his tract on the Raritan and purchased a large tract of land in Roycefield, in the Millstone neigh- borhood, afterwards owned and occupied by Capt John Wyckoff. He and his wife died young, leaving three chil- dren-one son named Rynier, inherited his grandfathers es- tate on the Raritan, lived there for many years, and died in February 1833, in his 80th year. This Ryneier left two sons-Henry who was the father of R. H. Veghte, now living on the homestead farm, and also of Benjamin T., John and Henry Veghte -- and Rynier, who left one son John V. Veghte, who resides now on the farm where his father died in 1871, aged 83 years.
The name of Vroom is found early on the records of the church. Court Vroom seems to have been the first of the name residing on the Raritan. Col. Peter D. Vroom, of revolutionary days, was a prominent citizen of Somerset County in his time. He was born Jan. 27th, 1745, O. S., two miles from Raritan Landing. Early in life he lived in New York, whence he came to reside on the Raritan, near the junction of the North and South Branches. The home-
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stead is now owned by Saxton Wyckoff. He married Elsie Bogart, and died on this Plantation. He was one of the few individuals who raised the first military company in the beginning of the revolutionary war, in which he served as heutenant and captain, and was appointed major of the Somerset battalion by joint Meeting in 1777; and after- wards a lieutenont-colonel. He led a company at the battle of Germantown and was in the service during the war. During his life he occupied almost every office of trust in the county. At the close of the revolution, he was made High Sheriff, and then Clerk of the Pleas, after- wards a Justice of the Peace, a Member of Assembly in 1791 and several succeeding years-member of council for 1799 to 1804, and a long time Presiding Judge of the court, afterward an elder in the church; and always a leading counsellor. He enjoyed an unblemished reputation, and died in November 1831, in the 87th year of his age-hav- ing, in his time, filled as large a space in public life as any of the prominent men of his day in Somerset County. He was the father of the late Gov. P. D. Vroom.
William Churchill Houston was born in South Carolina, about the year 1746. His father was a planter, a man of distinction, and William lived at home until after his majority. With very limited means be made his way to Princeton and entered the Freshman Class in the college, and graduated with high honor in 1768. Soon after his graduation he was appointed a tutor, and two years after was elected Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philos- ophy, being the first occupant of that chair in the institu- tion. He resigned in 1783 and was succeeded by Ashbel Green, afterwards president of the college. While con- nected with the college, Mr. H. found time to study law, and in April 1781, was admitted to the bar of New Jersey. During the time that he occupied the chair of Professor he served one session in the legislature, viz: 1778. His associates were Roelif Sebring and David Kirkpatrick, of Somerset. In the Assembly 1781, Edward Bunn was chosen to fill his place. From 1782 to 1785 he was Receiver of Continetal Taxes, and in September 1786, was appointed Clerk of the Supreme Court, and was succeeded in the office by Gov.
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Howell. in 1788. In May, 1782, he was elected a member of the Congress of the Confederation. and was four times re elected to the same position. He was a delegate from New Jersey, at the assembling of Commissioners from the States, at Annapolis, in 1786, and signed the report and address issued by that body. In November 1787, he was appointed a delegate from New Jersey to the Convention which met at Philadelphia aud framed the Constitution of the United States. "But I can not discover that he ever took his seat in that body, being most probably prevented from doing so, by his rapidly declining health." He died at Philadelphia, in 1795, while on a journey to the South -and was there interred. He was a learned and profound lawyer, and distinguished in the halls of science and legis- lation.
Mr. H., while in Princeton, must have lived as Dr. Witherspoon lid, on the Somerset side of the street, which was the common boundary between thiscounty and Middle- sex.
David Kirkpatrick of Mine Brook, the father of Chief Justice Kirkpatrick, was entirely a Somerset man, though born in Scotland. He emigrated to New Jersey with his father. Alexander Kirkpatrick, when 12 years of age, in 1736, landing at New Castle, Del., after a stormy passage, during which their provisions were almost entirely consum- ed and the passengers in danger of starvation. Wander- ing up from Dela vare they finally reached Bound Brook, and went on over the mountains on foot by an Indian path. On their way they encountered "a land-turtle, sticking up his head and hissing fearfully." They had heard of rattle- snakes, and were sure this terrible monster must be one of them ; so turning cautiously aside, they left his "tortleship" in full possession of his quarters, and went on their way giving him a wide berth. Coming to a spring of water on the south side of Mine Brook or Round Mountain, they rested ; and fancying the outlook of the place, settled and built a log house. David Kirkpatrick. the subject of our sketch, was born at "Wattiesneach," Dumfrieshire, Scot- land, February 17, 1724, and was a plain but earnest man living four score years and ten to see and enter upon his
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ninety first year. He was often a member of the New Jersey Legislature ; and it is pleasantly said of him, that on going to Trenton, he usually commenced his journey on horseback ; but soon dismounted and walked, leading the animal all the way to Trenton. He was always a pub- lic spirited, earnest christian man ; a man with the tem- per of the Seotch worthies largely developed in his char- acter, and left posterity who have borne honorable names among the honorable men of Somerset. His descendants have in many ways proved themselves worthy of their sire, at the bar, in the pulpit, and m many other branches of publie life, A plain, simple -hearted almost uneducated man, he obtained an extensive influence in his day and died full of years and honors.
Gen. Frederick Frelinghuysen, the only son of Rev. John Frelinghuysen and Dinah Van Burgh, of Amsterdam, Holland. He was born in Somerville, April 13th, 1753, and died on April 13th, 1804, aged fifty-one years exactly. He entered public life early, and in 1775 when only 22 years of age, was sent to the Continental Congress. He served in his place for two years and resigned in 1777, on account of the expense attending it, and the claims upon him from the exigencies of his own private affairs. His letter, which has been preserved and published, is highly honorable to his patriotism and his sense of duty. He was, at first, a Captam of a Volunteer Artillery com- pany for one year on the opening of the revolution. He fought in the battles of the Assinpink, and of Monmouth; and generally during the war he was active as a colonel of the militia of his native county. After receiving repeated evidences of the confidence of the public, he was in 1793 elected to the United States Senate. He served in his place until domestic bereavements and the claims of his own affairs obliged him again to resign in 1796. In the Western expedition, or the "Whiskey War," he served as a major-general, commanding the troops from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He enjoyed a large share of public con- fidence and was one of the prominent men of his time, Som- erset has long cherished his memory with pride.
Earlier in public life than Frelinghuysen, was William
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Paterson, the second governor of New Jersey, after Inde- pendence. He is called one of the most talented men of his day We have not ascertained the place of his birth, but his father resided at Princeton, and he graduated from the college in 1763. Though mostly a resident of New Brunswick, he lived for several years on the Raritan, on · what is called the "Paterson Farm." Here he attended to the business of his plantation, and at the same time en- gaged in the practice of the law. In the little office which stood aside from his dwelling and near the road side, he transacted his business and attended to the instruction of several students, of whom we shall make mention in an- other connection as a matter of interest and pride. He was appointed in 1776 a Judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and elected Governor of the State in 1790, as a successor of William Livingston. Previous to this he had been a member of the convention to frame the U. S. Constitution and Senator of the First Congress. He was at the time of his death, 1806, a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. New Jersey claims his mem- ory as one of her most honored and cherished possessions, and the County of Somerset, enrolls him with pleasure among her great men. His character is singularly pure, unstained even by one blot. He was evidently a most hon- est, honorable upright man.
Somerset has a right to claim as one of her prominent men William Alexander, best known as "Lord Sterling," a major-general in the armies of the revolution. He was a son of James Alexander, surveyor . general of New Jersey and born in New York City, 1726. £ His father, James Alexander, fled from Scotland, 1716, having been implica- ted in the outbreak in favor of the Stewarts in that year. His mother was the widow David Provost, facetiously called "'Ready Money" Provost, He spent several years of his life near Baskingridge, where he built a splendid man- sion, had a park filled with deer, and lived in baronial style. He joined the army in his youth, and was aide- camp to Gen. Sherley in the French and Indian war. He claimed the Earldom of Sterling, in Scotland, and went to England to prosecute his claims, but failed in obtaining
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